F10 ndiswrapper and WG311v3...

[arep3]

Hi all.
Ive recently updated to F10. My housemate wanted to have a wireless network throughout the house. This has proven quite a challange for me.
I have a netgear wireless card that runs WG311v3.INF.
Ive installed ndiswrapper and the wg311v3.inf driver for the card. i now get this when i try to activate the connection in Network Manager:
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 2: ignoring bad line starting with 'install/manage'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 4: ignoring bad line starting with 'usage:'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 5: ignoring bad line starting with '-i'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 6: ignoring bad line starting with '-a'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 7: ignoring bad line starting with '-r'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 8: ignoring bad line starting with '-l'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 9: ignoring bad line starting with '-m'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 10: ignoring bad line starting with '-ma'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 11: ignoring bad line starting with '-mi'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 12: ignoring bad line starting with '-v'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 14: ignoring bad line starting with 'where'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 15: ignoring bad line starting with 'as'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 2: ignoring bad line starting with 'install/manage'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 4: ignoring bad line starting with 'usage:'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 5: ignoring bad line starting with '-i'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 6: ignoring bad line starting with '-a'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 7: ignoring bad line starting with '-r'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 8: ignoring bad line starting with '-l'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 9: ignoring bad line starting with '-m'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 10: ignoring bad line starting with '-ma'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 11: ignoring bad line starting with '-mi'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 12: ignoring bad line starting with '-v'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 14: ignoring bad line starting with 'where'
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.conf line 15: ignoring bad line starting with 'as'
ndiswrapper device wlan0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization.

Im not good at typing any commands and can only use terminal if i can find the right commands on websites.
Can someone please explain what is wrong and how can i fix it.
Cheers, Ron

[stoat]

Hello arep3,

Well, the most glaring thing is that something unusual is in your /etc/modprobe.conf file. The fragments of the bad lines in each of those warnings look like they are from the text of the ndiswrapper usage instructions that appear after using incorrect syntax with the ndiswrapper command. All of that may have gotten in there with an echo command somehow. You may have been trying to echo in an ndiswrapper alias, typed it wrongly, and echoed in the ndiswrapper error message instead. Interesting. Anyway, I recommend that you sort that out first because it's obvious that nothing good is going to happen until you do. Take a moment to copy and paste here the result of these terminal commands...

su
cat /etc/modprobe.conf

[arep3]

Thanks for the reply stoat.
su
cat /etc/modprobe.conf got me this:

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper
install/manage Windows drivers for ndiswrapper

usage: ndiswrapper OPTION
-i inffile install driver described by 'inffile'
-a devid driver use installed 'driver' for 'devid' (dangerous)
-r driver remove 'driver'
-l list installed drivers
-m write configuration for modprobe
-ma write module alias configuration for all devices
-mi write module install configuration for all devices
-v report version information

where 'devid' is either PCIID or USBID of the form XXXX:XXXX,
as reported by 'lspci -n' or 'lsusb' for the card

[stoat]

su
cat /etc/modprobe.conf got me this:

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper
install/manage Windows drivers for ndiswrapper

usage: ndiswrapper OPTION
-i inffile install driver described by 'inffile'
-a devid driver use installed 'driver' for 'devid' (dangerous)
-r driver remove 'driver'
-l list installed drivers
-m write configuration for modprobe
-ma write module alias configuration for all devices
-mi write module install configuration for all devices
-v report version information

where 'devid' is either PCIID or USBID of the form XXXX:XXXX,
as reported by 'lspci -n' or 'lsusb' for the card

The ndiswrapper "help" text is in the file and shouldn't be there. Open /etc/modprobe.conf for editing...

su
gedit /etc/modprobe.conf

And delete all of that in there except the alias line. When your /etc/modprobe.conf file looks like this...

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

...save it and exit gedit. I recommend rebooting after that.



You can try again to establish a connection with NetworkManager. However, if it doesn't work, here are some things to check...

1. Look at the list of loaded modules. The following terminal command will list the loaded kernel modules, and the ndiswrapper module should be in the list...

   /sbin/lsmod | sort

2. Confirm the driver was installed. The following terminal command should indicate that the WG311v3 driver is installed and a device is present...

   /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l

If neither of those revealed something to do, then it's time to stop, regroup, and rethink. Start with confirming your wireless card's chipset. See if this terminal command yields a result...

/sbin/lspci | grep Network

I originally thought there was a chance that you might have a chipset that can work with one of the built-in drivers available for various chipsets today. But a few minutes reading about the NETGEAR WG311v3 on the Internet ended those thoughts. I am now expecting this card to have a Marvel chipset, and ndiswrapper will be the only thing to do for it. However, I did learn one interesting thing. More than one person discovered that the Windows 98 driver for the card worked with ndiswrapper when the Windows XP driver would not (and those posts were not really old). Usually, ndiswrapper uses the XP driver. That is something to keep in mind. Here is a place from which you can download a simple zip file that contains the WG311v3's SYS and INF driver files for XP, W2K, and W98 in case you need them and can't get them from a CD that came with the card...

ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/wg311v3_1_0.zip

P.S.: Another thing I read about this wireless card is that no driver for it supports WPA encryption. So you are going to use WEP encryption or no encryption at all.

[arep3]

ok this is whats happened.
Ive edited modprobe.conf successfully.
I then tried to run system network config and got:
ndiswrapper device wlan0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization.

/sbin/lsmod | sort
Module Size Used by
ndiswrapper 218672 0

/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l
wg311v3 : driver installed
device (11AB:1FAA) present

I did try /sbin/lspci | grep Network but nothing happened.

I have seen in terminal Marvel chipset.

Ill remove the current XP driver and try the W98 one. ill post up the results.

[arep3]

i installed the W98 driver. Then i tried activating the wireless connection in system network config and i still get:
ndiswrapper device wlan0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization.

[stoat]

Everything you've reported looks correct to me (except that it's not working, of course). If you haven't already done this, try...

su
/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -mi

It just writes some installation configuration lines in /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper. It's sort of become a standard step nowadays. Reboot the machine. Try again.

Also try establishing a connection with your NetworkManager system tray icon. If you don't see that, open Services (system-config-services) and enable and/or restart NetworkManager. Then left-click the NetworkManager system tray icon and see if it is picking up your router, anything, even neighbors. Turn on SSID broadcast in your router if it's not already on and if you can. It will help, and SSID broadcast off provides zero actual security.



P.S.: If we are to believe what I read here about this chipset and encryption...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...tgear_WG311_v3

...then remember to use either WEP encryption or no encryption at all. Change that in your router.



P.P.S.: It's probably of only academic value now, but this may reveal the chipset (just for the record)...

/sbin/lspci | grep Marvel

[arep3]

not working still.
It defenately a marvel.
/sbin/lspci | grep Marvel
01:09.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88w8335 [Libertas] 802.11b/g Wireless (rev 03)

heres the last thing i did in terminal:
[root@localhost Documents]# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -mi
module configuration information is stored in /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
[root@localhost Documents]# cat /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
install pci:v000011ABd00001FAAsv00006B00sd00001385bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
install pci:v000011ABd00001FAAsv*sd*bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
install pci:v000011ABd00001FABsv*sd*bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper

[stoat]

Rebooting is always a good thing to try after something like that.

[stoat]

Alright. I have seen many posts about this card and Linux. Most end badly or not at all. But I have seen a few end with success. Those always used ndiswrapper. The eureka moment always occurred after some command related to loading the module was executed (i.e., ndiswrapper -m). However your problem does not seem to be loading the module (see your /sbin/lsmod report). So, I am left with my only idea being to review the whole process as I know it. I am not a developer or wireless expert. Just somebody that has used ndiswrapper for a long time. Maybe you will see something that was overlooked or another idea.



Ndiswrapper

Ndiswrapper acts as a sort of "adapter" to make a Windows driver work in Linux. The Windows XP driver is preferred, but people still use W2K and even Windows 98 drivers. Vista drivers are known not to do well with ndiswrapper, so avoid them. And for 64-bit Fedora, use a 64-bit Windows driver with ndiswrapper. The Marvel 88w8335 is known to work with ndiswrapper. Ndiswrapper can be installed either from source code or from binary pre-compiled packages. A very popular example of a binary version of ndiswrapper is the rpmfusion (formerly livna) group of kmod-ndiswrapper packages (three packages all together). I have used ndiswrapper from both installation methods at one point or another. If one method never seems to work, it's reasonable to try the other. After all, it's not impossible to get ahold of an old source package and compile something less than an up-to-date version of ndiswrapper. Anyway, to use the rpmfusion kmod-ndiswrapper...

1. Acquire the XP driver for the card from its CD, the Internet, or your Windows XP system folders. You will need at least the SYS and INF files. Put those two files together in one place, open a terminal, and cd to that directory.
   
   NOTE 1: As already mentioned, people are known to have used the W2K and W98 drivers for the WG311v3 with ndiswrapper. This is a matter for experimentation discussed below.
   
   
2. Install ndiswrapper and the driver...

   su -
   rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
   yum update
   yum install ndiswrapper
   ndiswrapper -i [driver INF filename here]
   ndiswrapper -mi

   NOTE 2: That system update step was added as an optional step. It's probably a good idea. In the early days of a Fedora release (like now for F10), things are sometimes busted all over the place. I have already heard about troubles with the released version of NetworkManager. New kernels regularly bust people's wireless setup, but that is a risk worth taking (IMO). I would update the entire system via yum.
   
   NOTE 3: There are two other variants of that last step (see the ndiswrapper help). This is another matter for experimentation discussed below.
   
   
3. Now reboot and establish the connection using the NetworkManager tray icon (left-click it). If your router is broadcasting its SSID, then you should see your network (router SSID) in the list of available networks. Click it and give NetworkManager the information that it requests. If your router is not broadcasting its SSID, then you will not see your network listed. I recommend turning SSID broadcast on. If you insist that it be turned off, then left-click on the NetworkManager tray icon and choose "Connect to hidden wireless network" or "Connect to other wireless network". It is not necessary (IMO) to do anything in the Network Configuration utility (system-config-network) as people often do. I don't even have a wireless connection in the Network Configuration utility, and yet I am connected with NM now.

If it doesn't work...

Some things to check if it doesn't work. Reboot and...

1. Look at the list of loaded modules. The following terminal command will list the loaded kernel modules, and the ndiswrapper module should be in the list...

   /sbin/lsmod | sort

2. If the ndiswrapper module is not being loaded, then create an ndiswrapper alias for the wireless device in /etc/modprobe.conf...

   echo "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" >> /etc/modprobe.conf

3. Confirm the driver was installed. The following terminal command should indicate that the WG311v3 driver is installed and a device is present...

   /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l

Experiments to try...

Some areas for experimentation...

1. Completely uninstall the driver and ndiswrapper and re-install another version of ndiswrapper vis-a-vis source versus binary. If trying source, get the latest possible version.
   
   To uninstall drivers...

   /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -e [driver name here]

   Uninstall ndiswrapper itself either with yum remove ndiswrapper for the binary verision or make uninstall for the source version. You can also manually search for related remnants like this...

   su
   find / -name ndiswrapper

   Delete them. Then re-install ndiswrapper.
   
   
2. Uninstall the driver and try one of the other Windows drivers for this card (XP, W2K, W98).
   
   
3. Try a different module-loading ndiswrapper command option. There are three of them...

   /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -m
   /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -mi
   /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -ma

   See the ndiswrapper help (/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper --help) for some very brief descriptions of them. Once upon a time, that first one was all we had. It created the usual alias line, but in the file /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper. Recently, the other two appeared (with very little explanation about them). But the -mi one writes install configuration lines in /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper as you already know. The -ma one writes alias lines in that same file. The important thing about them is to execute only one of them because those last two completely rewrite the /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper file erasing what was there before, and the -m one will complain if one of the other two has already been done before it. So, when experimenting with these commands, first manually clear out or delete /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper. I have seen posts where people did all three one after the other (more is better approach). It just doesn't work the way they think and can create a mess if -m is done last. I tried all of this stuff.
   
   
4. Network Configuration utility versus NetworkManager. I recommend trying NetworkManager until you've plowed it into the ground. Nowadays, I use only NetworkManager. I don't even have a wireless connection in the Network Configuration utility. Try NM with every variation above that you try. It works well nowadays. The other idea to try is creating a wireless connection in the Network Configuration utility (system-config-network) without using NetworkManager. I did that for a long time before I had even heard of NetworkManager. I used manual commands to bring up the network. Eventually, I put those commands in scripts to ease the burden. Example commands that I used (now, these are examples only for clarification of my words about them)...

   /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 key restricted [WEP key here] essid "[SSID here]"
   /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up
   /sbin/dhclient wlan0

   /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 down
   killall -q dhclient
   rm /var/run/dhclient.pid

5. Consider buying a new card that is easier to setup in a Linux system. They're out there.

As always, best wishes.

[arep3]

WOW. thats the most helpfull post i have even seen. Thanks so much for taking the time to write all of that. You may have guessed that i have no experience with both wireless and linux. Im pretty well much lost as soon as i dont have a gui! but i am learning and will give anything i go.
Ill spend the next few days (damn weekend is flat out...that time of the year.) trying everything here.
Again, thanks a lot. Ill post up my results.
Cheers, Ron

[arep3]

I ended up buying a linux compatable wireless card. TP Link. when F10 booted for the 1st time it came up with "Wireless network found do you wish to connect?" i entered the password and i was online. it was that simple.
Thanks stoat for all of your help

[Jongi]

What would I need to do to get wlan0 running? Or is the fact that lspci confirms the rev 03 model (WG311v3) and ndiswraper shows the INF loaded (Win2000 version) mean that I look for an alternate wifi card?

And I do not have a /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0

[stoat]

What would I need to do to get wlan0 running? Or is the fact that lspci confirms the rev 03 model (WG311v3) and ndiswraper shows the INF loaded (Win2000 version) mean that I look for an alternate wifi card?

That version of that card usually is reported as having the Libertas 88w8335 chipset. I'm certainly no expert with it, but the only thing I've seen used with that chipset is ndiswrapper and a Windows driver. If you've come this far, I would push on to some conclusion with it (good or bad). The answer should come with only a few minutes of effort.

Since you have the the Windows driver confirmed installed with ndiswrapper, then next I would confirm that the ndiswrapper module is loading at boot time and that no built-in driver modules are loading...

/sbin/lsmod | sort

You should see ndiswrapper in the list produced by that command, and you should not see any built-in wireless modules there. It's not likely to happen, but if you do see wireless modules there, they should be blacklisted.

echo "blacklist [module name here]" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Once the ndiswrapper driver and kernel module situation look right (and stay right after a reboot), next I would simply enable and start or restart NetworkManager.

su -
chkconfig NetworkManager on
service NetworkManager restart

After that you should see the NetworkManager panel tray icon. Left-click on the icon and you should see your network (router SSID) in the list of available networks if your router is broadcasting its SSID. Click on your network and give NetworkManager the information it requests. You should connect. If you have SSID broadcast turned off in your router, then you will not see your network in the list of available networks. I recommend that you turn SSID broadcast on. IMO turning off SSID broadcast does very little to secure your network from a determined neighbor. If you insist that SSID broadcast be off, then try right-clicking on the NetworkManager panel tray icon and choose "Connect to hidden wireless network" or "Connect to other wireless network". Then give NetworkManager the information that it requests. You should connect.

P.S.: I have read that this chipset does not support WPA encryption. My head simply will not accept that. But you should know about it anyway in case you try connecting to a router using WPA encryption and have troubles that cannot be overcome.